Happy Birthday Mr Bowie – we love you. All the crazy versions of you – from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke, the electro metal guy to just the sharply dressed judge of the catwalk contest in Zoolander. The internet is ablaze with tributes to the man – so we tried to do something a little different. Here are 65 interesting facts about David Bowie, compiled by our staff (and their friends).
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1) His real name is David Jones. Not only is it a department chain, it’s also the name of one of the Monkees – hence the change
2) He actually released a number of singles under the name Davy Jones that failed to chart, before becoming the Bowie that everyone knows.
3) Bowie comes from Jim Bowie, the man behind the bowie knife.
4) As a child, he got into a fight with a friend that resulted in one of his eyes being permanently damaged. Sometimes it makes it look as if he has different coloured eyes.
5) His poor eye narrowly escaped more injury in 2004 when during his last world tour, some guy threw a lollipop at him and hit him in the eye.
6) Another of his school friends is Peter Frampton (of Frapmton Comes Alive). They went to school and played in bands together in their teens. They worked together again in the 80s.
7) He studied dance and mime under famous performer Lindsay Kemp. Another famous alumni of Kemp’s is Kate Bush.
8 ) Coincidentally, Kemp appeared in the movie Velvet Goldmine, which was a fictionalised story of a character much like Bowie and Ziggy Stardust. Velvet Goldmine itself is the name of a rather obscure Bowie song.
9) Bowie is of course famous for his acting roles in The Labyrinth and Zoolander.
10) But before that, he starred in his own film – The Man Who Fell To Earth, playing an alien.
11) Other memorable roles include playing his friend Andy Warhol in Basquiat and scientist Nikola Tesla in the Prestige
12) He’s also turned down the chance to play a Bond villain, and Captain Hook in the film Hook
13) He has also turned down the Order Of the British Empire AND a knighthood!
14) The UK Sci-Fi series Life On Mars was named after a Bowie song. A follow-up series was named after another Bowie song – Ashes To Ashes
15) The dreadful US version of Life On Mars actually involved a search for life on the planet Mars. It was silly and no wonder it got cancelled.
16) The film clip for Let’s Dance was filmed in Carinda, NSW, in a little pub with the locals.
17) The film clip for China Girl, made around the same time, was mainly filmed in Chinatown in Sydney
18) The building from the cover of Ziggy Stardust has been renovated, but the phone booth from the back cover is still there (it’s Heddon St, an alley way in Soho, London)
19) David Bowie’s son is Duncan Jones, director of the movies Moon and Source Code
20) Duncan’s first name is Zowie. Yes, Zowie Bowie.
21) The song “Kooks” from “Hunky Dory” was written for Duncan/Zowie
22) 1973 album Pin Ups featured all covers – including Friday On My Mind by the Easybeats!
23) The other person on the cover to Pin Ups is the model Twiggy
24) Other songs Bowie has covered include the Rolling Stones Let’s Spend the Night Together and The Velvet Underground’s I’m Waiting For the Man
25) It’s been almost 9 years since his last new album (Reality in 2003) – the longest gap since he started recording.
26) Bowie sent Molly Meldrum a get well message after his accident late last year.
27) In the movie The Life Aquatic, actor Seu Jorge performs a number of Bowie songs in Portuguese (in a bossa nova style). Many of the lyrics were just made up. The versions were popular enough to warrant their own soundtrack album.
28) Bowie is also a producer, and produced Lust For Life for Iggy Pop and Walk On the Wild Side by Lou Reed, and many others
29) In fact, Bowie loved Iggy. He cites him as an inspiration of Ziggy Stardust, and was responsible for getting his career back on track after the Stooges broke up.
30) Toni Basil – the woman behind the 80s one hit wonder Mickey – was once Bowie’s choreographer.
31) He shares a birthday with Elvis Presley
32) David Bowie actually had his own ISP for a while, and you could register a @davidbowie.com address when you signed up
33) Teen heart throb and quantum physicist Brian Cox said on the BBC in 2011 that “Queen Bitch” (from Hunky Dory) is his favourite song.
34) There is such a thing as Bowie Bonds. You can buy Bonds that are backed by the revenue of David Bowie’s first 25 albums.
35) Wrote Mott the Hoople’s biggest hit – All the Young Dudes.
36) His estimated worth is $215 million. No wonder it’s been a while between tours.
37) When he released the album Low, singer Nick Lowe released an EP called “Bowi” in response
38) Famous collaborators? Plenty. Everyone knows Queen and Jagger – but how about John Lennon on Fame (1975) or Rick Wakeman on Space Oddity
39) It is often assumed Angie by the Rolling Stones was about Angie Bowe, Bowie’s wife in the 70s.
40) The character of Major Tom appears in Space Oddity (1969) and then Ashes To Ashes (1980). But Tom made one further appearance, on Hallo Spaceboy in 1995. He’s due for a fourth appearance then.
41) All up, he’s sold 140 million albums
42) The character of Ziggy Stardust was inspired by many, and one of the main ones was 50s rock ‘n’ roller Vince Taylor. Bowie met Taylor in Taylor’s drugs years, when he believed himself to be an alien.
43) According to his Last.fm stats – Hunky Dory is his most popular album, but Ziggy Stardust is his most popular track.
44) Bowie was always ahead of the game, and was one of the first artists to sign to Rykodisc in the 80s, then innovative for being a CD only label.
45) Bowie contributed backing vocals to Scarlett Johanssen’s debut album – which was all Tom Waits covers.
46) The Ziggy Stardust concert film was the last ever Ziggy gig, and he announced it onstage without telling his band beforehand! The gig ended, appropriately, with Rock ‘n’ Roll suicide.
47) Iman and Bowie have been together now for 20 years this year. Lucky man.
48) His first ever Australian concert was in Adelaide in 1978. He opened with Warszawa, and ended with Rebel Rebel
49) His last ever Australian concert (to date) was in Perth in 2004, where he opened with Rebel Rebel, and ended with Ziggy Stardust.
50) In 1974, the Lewiston Journal voted Bowie the Worst Dressed Woman
51) The Man Who Sold The World has been covered by diverse artists such as Nirvana and Lulu
52) He recorded the Tin Machine album at 301 Studio’s in Sydney
53) Bowie actually spent 1 year in Sydney in the late 80’s living in Bayswater. Rumor has it he actually rented a Winebago and toured around Australia for a period.
54) Iggy Pop recorded China Girl before David Bowie
55) David Bowie once dated Gun’s N Roses guitarist Slash’s Mom!
56) David Bowie saw Elvis perform in 1973 on his first trip to NYC. He turned up at the show in full ‘Ziggy kit’.
57) David Bowie appeared in the Ricky Gervais comedy Extras and composed a song about Ricky’s character.
58) Bowie hand picked the Angels to support him on his first Australian tour.
59) Sydney band Soap Star Joe paid homage to Bowie and South Sydney Rabbitohs in their single Ziggy Niszczot Never Played Guitar (Niszczot being one of the Rabbitoh’s greats)
60) Bowie sand Little Drummer Boy with Bing Crosby on Crosby’s show. It ended up being the final released recording in Bing’s lifetime.
61) Steve Marriot wanted to form a band with the pre-fame Bowie and call it ‘David & Goliath’.
62) Bowie paid the late Marc Bolan (of T. Rex)’s sons school fees. Bolan and Bowie were of the same world, and shared producers and backing musicians in the glam days.
63) John Lennon played guitar on Bowie’s cover of Across The Universe.
64) Bowie lives across the street from Moby.
65) Bowie’s first instrument was the sax. His tutor was the bloke that played the solo on Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side – which Bowie produced.
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(Thanks to everyone who helped us get to 65, especially Paul Andrews, Ross Clelland and Sean Sennett)
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